Merry Christmas!

I am sorry the posts have been so few and far between this month. Blame it on the holidays! (And the home improvement project that we foolishly decided to take on three weeks before Christmas...) But I promise I will be back in January with some good stuff!

In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday. I will see you back here after the New Year!

My New Favorite Christmas CD

The day after Thanksgiving we love to drive up to the little town of Estes Park, Colorado, where they hold an annual Christmas parade just after sunset. The lights of the parade, the pretty floats and Christmas characters, and the music is just magical!

We all bundle up, as you can see!

This year we wandered into a little shop and discovered Peregrin Road, a local acoustic band. They were just sitting there, live, playing music from their Christmas CD, which I bought on the spot! It's a beautiful mix of guitar, Irish whistle (my favorite) and other things this non-musical person cannot identify.

All I can tell you is that I've been listening to this CD non-stop. Although Frank, Bing, Tony and the rest of the crew will always have top billing at my house, sometimes you just need a little variety in your Christmas music! I love to play this during my (few) moments of peace, or at night when the kids are in bed.

I promise I don't know these guys, and they are not paying me to say this! I just found something that brings me a little calmness and peace during the Christmas season, and wanted to share. Their CD sells on Amazon, or you can go to their website directly to listen and download. If you have a few minutes, I highly recommend it!

Have a great weekend!

My Henry-Proof Christmas Tree Table

You all are very nice. I am still digging my way out of the drywall dust in my house, but luckily I don't feel stressed because of my lack of posts, because you understand! Plus, you are all probably too busy getting ready for Christmas to care what is going on in my house!

Here's a little project I managed to sneak in out of necessity. You may know that I have an almost-11-month-old son named Henry. He's crawling everywhere, and eating everything! When we thought about putting up a Christmas tree this year, all we could envision was digging glass ornament shards out of his little mouth. So, we improvised!

This table has been sitting in our basement, gathering junk. It originally had the same ugly legs as this table, which I renovated back in the summer.

As you can see, my accommodating husband changed out the legs for me. (The above photo is after the legs had already been replaced. And just in case you are curious, we bought the legs at Home Depot!)
I started by painting the table an antique white (Behr's "Country Dairy" in an eggshell finish). It took about four coats because I was impatient and neglected a primer coat. (Nothing new there!) Then I sanded the edges a bit and added a little knob. I love how it turned out!

I also love that I don't have to worry about Henry eating pine needles all month. Happy Holidays to all! :)

In a Bad Place

I have not been around much lately. Besides the usual Christmas busy-ness, my house has been in an uproar. What used to be this:

...now looks like this:

We decided to convert our upstairs loft into a bedroom. It's been a fairly straightforward project-just adding a half-wall, door and closet-but really? Is there anything good about having a garbage can in your hallway?

So that's why I've been absent lately. We're in a bad place around here. Construction dust. My son finding pieces of stray drywall to put in his mouth. My daughter's footed PJs looking like she's been trudging through the gutters in them. The dog? Oh, the dog! His fuzzy hair is like a magnet for debris.

And in the midst of it all, trying to put up the Christmas tree and enjoy the yuletide. So you can see why I have not been showing you my Christmas decorations, our cozy nights by the fire sipping hot chocolate, and visits to Santa!

I hope to be back sometime soon with more traditional Christmas posts. In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying the season!

Christmas Advent Calendar

Merry Christmas! I can officially say that now, even though I've been guilty of playing Christmas music in my house for a few weeks now. :)

Over the weekend, like many of you I am sure, we unpacked our Christmas decorations. If you've been around here for awhile, you will remember my Christmas advent calendar from last year:

I made it when I was 8 months pregnant last year, and I still love it! Each box opens up and allows me to hide a little treat for my kids for each day leading up to Christmas. Nina can hardly wait to dive in tomorrow. Henry doesn't care so much, but he will next year, I am sure!

I have a detailed tutorial from last year on how I made this, so if you feel like getting all messy and taking on another project this Christmas season, click here for instructions! Happy Mod Podging!

Thanksgiving Tree

'Twas three days before Thanksgiving, and all through the house

Carrie was using scrapbook paper and a glue stick...

So what else is new?

We are staying In Denver this year for Thanksgiving, and hosting a small gathering at our house. My friend Aimee does a Thanksgiving Tree every year, and I decided to copy her!

Here's the cast of characters:

Just get a glue stick, scrapbook paper, little tags with holes in them, and a cute paper punch-out leaf or other Thanksgiving-y shape.

Glue the cute little Thanksgiving shape to the tag. Be sure to leave some room for people to write.

Put all the tags somewhere your guests can get to them, and lay out a nice pen and some twine.

On Thanksgiving, throughout the day, people can come along and write down something they are thankful for, then tie it to the tree! We plan to read ours during dinner. I imagine some of them will be sentimental, some silly, and some just bizarre (if I know my family). Just the way I like it!

As you can see, I've already added one thing I am thankful for. Like it?

Have a Happy Thanksgiving! I will be back next week to kick off the Christmas season!

P.S. To answer a few questions: the wire tree, I must admit, came from Goodwill. I'd been looking for one for awhile and one day I just stumbled upon it. As for the other materials, they all came from Hobby Lobby. My condolences for those of you who don't have one near you! :)

Lucky Winner!

I'm sorry, but even as I write this post I can't help but stop and think about how cute this little pageboy hat is. Seriously? I want one. For my head. Do you think she makes them in Size 33? As in, my age in years, not months?

Anyway, let's get right to the winner of this giveaway! It's Sarah, of Nesting in Pleasant View! Sarah, and sweet baby Anna Claire, you can thank my husband, who chose comment #3, which was you! Please email me at buzzingsofaqueenbee@hotmail.com and I will give you the details of how to collect your $20 credit to the fantastic Marili Jean!

And for the rest of us, there is more good news! Marili Jean has graciously allowed a 20% discount on all our purchases. How fantastic is that? Just enter "Holiday" when you check out on her website (click on the name Marili Jean to get to it!) and wait for the bargains to start rolling in!

I will be back next week with a few last minute Thanksgiving ideas. In the meantime, I will be crossing my fingers that Marili Jean starts an adult line of hats, just in time for Christmas. Mama needs some cuteness too!